Fallout 3 had a lot of hype, Bethesda had a lot of good press after Oblivion and Fallout was a brand from 'the good old days' of classic rpg's. I vaguely remember the stalwart champion of serious gaming critique, gametrailers, gushing over fallout 3 in "world exclusive" gameplay videos, big showing at E3 etc.

Also, hype has nothing to do with the fact if the game does or does not deserve it, it's just hype.

Yeah, Gametrailers did a montage for the original series. It was more like fans of the series hyping up the game (including press), while games like Titanfall seemed more like viral marketing.